Another episode has come and gone. This episode marking the first casualty of the holy grail war. Looks like Rider is out of the running. It is a bit sad to see her go so unceremoniously and even defeated off screen. Well, we shall see you again in the upcoming heavens feel movie, where you are sure to have a more substantial role. Shinji also fulfils his most important role as a character, that being giving the audience immense joy to see him get his ego some much needed bruising. It’s hard not to smile when seeing Rin kick him down a peg or kick him down literally. Speaking of Rin, I am not normally a fan of tsundere antics and there is the possibility of me being biased due to my love for this series but I did find her scene of bashfully dragging Shirou to eat lunch with her to be most amusing, and somewhat adorable. The two do have a chemistry onscreen that I feel is better than the Saber and Shirou dynamic. The current relationship between Shirou and Saber is far more fitting than that of the shy, overly awkward lovey dovey atmosphere of the Fate route that quite honestly irritates me to the core. While there may be moments of Shirou being overly aware of Sabers femininity, it really is a relationship of mutual respect. It’s far more respectful to her character than putting her as a love interest. Put simply, Saber makes a better friend than a wife candidate.

Shirou was also quite different this episode. The start showing him having a dream of getting torn apart by swords in his body. I get the symbolism but I feel the execution could have been better. It couldn’t really help looking very silly to me. I think this scene could have benefited from a little gore, or at least making the scene more horrific. Still it’s nice to see something signify the changes in Shirou. Cause he certainly has changed. One by annoying Saber in training because he started adopting Archers fighting style and managed to Saber to start taking him seriously. And two by being very proficient in battle against Casters familiars. He has definitely leveled up in battle prowess. Inception foghorns in the BGM notwithstanding, battle scenes remain a treat with a number of CG dragon bone warriors being the cannon fodder.

Now it is true that anime CG has always been not really a pleasant sight as it never blends with the animation. Still, I would consider UFOtables CG to be excellent as while the bone creatures do not blend in, at least they are not horribly alienating. I find the main problem with CG in anime has to be with movement. More often the movement of CG characters is stiff and unnatural. It becomes most apparent in human CG characters. Hence the reason why it’s be used on robots or mechanical vehicles. However the often stiff movement of anime CG works in favor here as the creatures are undead skeletons, so naturally their movement would be jittery. Adding something computer generated into another medium will always look unconvincing but at least here it does not hamper the experience. I only wish modern horror movies would take this fact into account. This episode ends with Rin questioning Shirou’s unnatural calm with dealing with horrific situations and Shirou dropping a line that shows he’s more that meets the eye. Next episode looks to see everyone’s favorite fake priest show up so till then I bid you adieu.

There was a few questionable things here this episode. The episode starts with the new villain quite literally killing herself to enter the kingdom of the dead. Which is a big risk considering it was based on one sentence from a child she was threatening. True being a shounen show there’s likely some magical biology science which somehow makes this possible without actually losing her life completely but still, for a makeshift decision it’s a little drastic. We also learn that the forest guardian Ban apparently killed was Kings sister and…well Ban had the hots for her. Now take note people, Ban is a character whose design looks that of a 25-30 year old range. Whereas Elaine(The forest guardian) looks 12 years old at best. Am I the only one who finds this quite creepy? I mean sure in the anime world we have thousand year old lolita’s giving them the excuse that it’s legal even if they only look ten. But quite frankly when they claim things like Biscuit(HunterXHunter) being 57 years old and Okabe(Steins Gate) being 18, I prefer to disregard that completely and call them as I see them. So yes, I can’t say I find Ban and Elaine’s relationship to be well…romantic.

I like how Ban brought up the elephant in the room when being confronted by King. It does seem like a no brainer to bring up that killing an immortal for revenge is going to be a tad difficult when that immortal won’t die. To which King answers by turning Ban into stone. But when Elaines ghost comes back to lend Ban a helping hand, King is left rather confused and distraught by it. It seems that while he was blinded by revenge he failed to realize that things may not been as he expected. That and maybe running away and leaving your sister to do your job for a thousand years may have been a bit of a bad thing to do. Honestly it’s the way most expected things to go. I highly doubt anyone believed that Ban really did kill the girl, instead the blame falling on some rather generic demon thing. Our new villainess is putting the sins on the ropes, or at least giving them some trouble with her explosion rapier. Here’s a general rule of shounen characters with closed eyes. They are either mischievous, calculating or sadistic psychopaths. Or in this case, all of the above. The fight is pretty good though filled with shounen talk. I must wonder how irritating it would be to hear people speak like this while fighting. But again the banter between the sins makes it all fun. Lastly it’s nice to see Elizabeth mention that she’s useless to the sins and attempt to assist them instead of asking for Kings help. Not that she’s going to enter a more combat focused role but at least she understands her position and regrets it. The fight continues new episode, so lets hope it isn’t dragged past it’s welcome.

As expected, this week we have another action filled episode. Queue the pretty explosions and fast paced fighting. It felt too short despite the episode length being just the same as the others. I often find that with a good episode of anime it makes you lose the concept of time as you watch. Making things seem longer or shorter than it actually is. Though watching a bad anime can also make you feel like it’s taking an eternity. I thought it would be best to just get a minor gripe out of the way first. I felt they used the same camera shots a bit too often during dialogue. The one showing Shirou and Archer talking with a crater in the foreground was shown at least three times in the same conversation. And at times the shounen talk of explaining attacks and motivations was a little intrusive. But as I am sure many would agree, who cares. We got laser beams and collateral destruction all around to admire.

Still it does make this a hard episode to review because what else is there to say besides get some popcorn and enjoy? Though the standout moment here is not the fight scenes but rather the contrast of Archer and Shirou. As Caster said, they are both similar in ways and yet different in approaches. With Shirou having an unrealistic, rather childish approach to an ideal whereas Archers is more cynical, realistic interpretation. The intriguing thing is that Archers approach is remarkably similar to Kiritsugu Emiya’s of Fate/Zero. The ends justify the means, the many over the few, this is quite interesting to see Shirou be faced with the very mentality of his father and outright reject it. Some Shirou haters might be rather delighted with this episode as Archer has pretty much said everything and done everything they wanted to do to Shirou from the beginning. I too find it is rather good to see Shirou’s flawed hero complex logic get a good beating. Actually the dialogue between the two even during the fights was excellent. Some of which denoted down to childish bickering which was amusing to behold.

That said, I found the Assassin vs Saber fight to be more engaging than the caster fight. The presentation of Assassin’s noble phantasm was well shown. Assassin himself proves to be quite the character, having created a noble phantasm simply because he was bored and had nothing else to do. It is rare to have such a great noble phantasm for an Assassin but much like Castor I don’t really see much worth in Assassin. After all taking a Assassin to the holy grail war is like taking a Go-kart to a NASCAR race. It’s just not a very good idea if you intend to win. True there may be exceptions such as Fate/extra’s Assassin or Fate/Apocrypha’s Assassin’s. But in this world of Fate/stay night where every “true” Assassin is the same, you might as well throw in the towel from the get go if you summon one. The after credits scene now looks to see Shirou making a true effort towards getting stronger. Which is expected as Archer has given him a good kick in the right direction both mentally and literally. Next week looks to feature the ever loveable Shinji once again, lets hope he does not bring down what should be a another great episode.

I will admit it, I laughed at the beginning. The episode started with a pretty funny joke related to Meliodas and Elizabeth sleeping in the same bed. Maybe because this one didn’t have a second agenda of providing fanservice at the same time. Actually I enjoyed this episode a lot more than the previous. Maybe because the humor was better than usual or maybe because the animation budget seems to have returned. But I think the primary reason is that the cast has now a selection of contrasting personalities. Before it was just Meliodas, Elizabeth and the pig. So the dialogue between the three was mainly melodas harassing Elizabeth with the pig playing straight man. Now we have Ban and Diane on the team so the banter between characters has become more varied.

This cast is only going to get bigger and now we have King entering. Hes had a rather interesting introduction so far. Meliodas told a story of how upset king was at Ban stealing a large amount of childrens stuffed toys for a laugh and spent the entire night returning them. This rather sensitive image is changed when he stabs Ban through the chest with a spear pretty cold heartedly. (I find it odd that he found this perfectly acceptable to do with two children there to see it.) But then he runs away in embarrassment after seeing Diane. A interesting combination with his battle and regular demeanor. He is also the one who looks completely nothing like his wanted poster. So much so that while Diane and Melodas recognised him, Ban had no idea who he was. Speaking of which, this episode had parts of a later chapter put into it. That being Bans backstory of how he became immortal. And this backstory looks to be the main reason as to why King wants him dead. The fight looks to be a good match up as Ban is a close quarters brawler while King is an indirect fighter who uses his flight and floating spear to his advantage.

Ban’s past relationship towards the forest guardian looks to play a part in the next episodes as the crew journey into the capital of the dead. The also a new villain has entered the fray. A female one to boot. I will give Seven deadly sins some credit. At least theres more diversity than your average sausage fest shonen.

This is just to try something new. As I tend to come across a number of new and interesting things I thought I might highlight some current unknown or interesting gems.Be they visual novel, manga or light novel.

Abnormal-kei Joshi

Description: High-schooler Shiina Shinya thinks that all girls are pretty much good-for-nothing, mostly because he doesn’t understand them at all. That doesn’t stop him from being surrounded by strange girls! Tsubasa Tooka, a cute, much-admired girl, stalks him. Shikimura Masami is majorly into masochism, and has recruited Shinya into her play sessions. Ikari Satsuki seems suspiciously interested in the recent serial stabbings, and seems to want to drag Shinya into it. Banjou Yoruko, a normally quiet, bookish girl, has decided she and Shinya are bound up in some fantasy setting. Uchida Yumeji is the school’s sleeping beauty, who spends all of her time in the infirmary because she requires so much sleep. Shinya brings her newspapers, so she can keep up with current events in the short time she spends awake. Lastly, Okui Akane is convinced she is a vampire. For all Shinya knows, it could be true, but in practice it just means that he has to let her drink his blood. How will Shinya deal with all these good-for-nothing girls that complicate his life?

The good: This guy has the most twisted and odd line-up of haremettes to date. A narcoleptic, a masochist, a stalker, a girl who thinks she’s a vampire…and that is the hook. Seeing our protagonist interact with these twisted creatures.

The bad: The manga does not have a ongoing main plot and the protagonist doesn’t have much of a personality. The harem is already set up from the start so we don’t even see how our protagonist got involved with these girls. So while the novelty is nice there not much else going for it.

Current number of translated chapters: 10

Recommendation level: 50%

Shinigami 4 nin no kanojo

Description: Minaguchi Kaoru is nothing special. He’s no good at sports or school, isn’t in any clubs, and he’s not popular. He has no friends and isn’t even interested in any of the girls he knows. He’s also teased due to the fact that he loves shoujo manga. Unlike the harem daydreams of his peers, he dreams of finding his true love. Unfortunately, a shinigami comes to kill him, simply because he’s a “forever alone” sort of guy. When he gasps out his intention of embracing life with his final breaths, though, she takes it back! As long as he follows through on his intentions, he won’t be killed. To convince the shinigami that his plans are genuine, he declares that he will confess to the girl he likes, the very next day. Expecting failure with confessing to random girls in his school, he sends out love letters to four different girls. To his surprise, they all agree to be his girlfriend. Now, this shoujo-manga-loving guy has ended up in a kind of harem story, quadruple-timing four girls! Will he be able to stay involved enough with society to avoid an early death?

The good: So far the most well executed harem deconstruction. Genuinely funny and a plot that keeps you interested. The girls may not have the deepest characterisation but their quirks are far from the norm. This is a personal favorite of mine.

The bad: Its been axed. Its confirmed that chapter 18 will be the last and considering the untapped potential of the story it is a great shame. Those 18 chapters are a great read though.

Current number of translated chapters: 17

Recommendation level: 90%

Mousugu Shinu Hito (Haruse Hiroki)

Description: Kominato Riku is a high school student who aims to be a game designer. The girl next door is his childhood friend Haju, is in love with him, but he has fallen head over heels for the school idol Riko. And lastly, there is the transfer student, Nodoka. With that all said you’d think this is the start of some love-comedy harem, but a rumor spreads that Nodoka’s received a message that says, “you will die soon”. Riku and the gang’s fate will change in a major way. Who will live, and who will love?

The good: Psycho girls scheming and fighting each other in a harem which is a matter of life or death? Whats not to love? While not perfect by any means its a very entertaining read with plenty of twists and turns. The supernatural mystery is intriguing as well. But the highlight is seeing just how far these girls are going to go to get chosen.

The bad: The girls personalities change too rapidly. Going from perfectly sane to downright psychotic in a matter of pages. The art heavily dramatises the story as well. Subtlety is not the name of the game here. Parts of the story are downright ridiculous. Also not for those who are not good with gore or disturbing concepts

I was mistaken in the previous review. The action scene I thought we would be getting today has been postponed till next week. This week we have a calm before the storm episode as things seem to be setting up for the fight scene to come. I am a little disappointed with this weeks fare as the animation seems to have finally dropped. Movement has gone down and the number of still frames, face shots and environment shots have gone up. It is understandable that they decide to save the animation budget on this particular episode, as they will need to animate some high level fight scenes next episode and this episode was mainly dialogue driven. Still I did find the off shots of windows and the environment during conversation to be a little distracting. it’s a small complaint I know but when something is presenting high level animation and then suddenly drops you notice it all the more.

Lets talk about Shinji Matou for a moment. I have never liked Shinji’s character, though not for the obvious reasons such as him just being a horrible person. Shinji to me has always seemed more a plot device than an actual character. He is designed to be hated to the core, from his high handed talk, his petty anger and to his downright pathetic cowardice when faced with an actual threat. His only saving grace being just how satisfying it is to see him get taken down a peg. In Fate/stay nights fandisc/sequel of sorts, Hollow/Ataraxia, he at least gains more to his character when stripped of his low level villain status. While he still doesn’t become likeable it at least then makes sense as to how him and Shirou could have been friends once. However here he’s just going to become worse as the story goes on. In particular there is one scene involving him in this route which UFOtable is going to have to thread carefully with as it is a rather distasteful moment in a otherwise great story. But the reason I bring this up is that I find Shinji’s presence on screen to be off putting. He is an emotionally manipulative character and even though I know he is designed with the sole purpose of irritating the viewer, I still get irritated all the same. And considering that I see this is the writers intent it just comes off detrimental to the experience and rather insulting. My advice would be to keep him out of the spotlight as much as possible though that is unlikely as he is a driving plot device after all.

On a positive note, I commend the anime for using a shorter explanation for Shirou’s strengthening magic. Because Nasu’s explanations are remarkably long winded and roundabout. Nasu will never tell you outright how something works. He will proceed to explain it in the most obtuse way possible and then repeat that explanation in a number of different beating around the bush ways till you figure it out. It is a way of making the reader misinterpret the thing being told to them as complex and deep because it took effort to figure out, when really they just were given a faulty explanation. Here however we have Shirou explain his magic in the simplest way possible, saving us from listening to a long tedious monologue. I will admit to being let down with this weeks episode of Fate but that does not mean it was a bad episode. It was a rather weak one but did have it’s share of small moments.I liked the talk between Archer and Shirou. As well as Rin and Shirou’s banter as they cleared up the seals. I would say the main thing thats irking me here is that I now have to wait another week to see a fight scene I thought would be in this episode.

There was quite number of still frames this episode so I hope that the animation budget isn’t starting to hurt. So our heroes triumph over the villains with a little help from Elizabeth. She showed some actual enginuity for once. As I was about to sigh as the villain was preparing to blab on about how his power works and give our heroes the exact right information to figure out how to combat it, he is cut off when he realises that Elizabeth already figured it out and made her move. Got to say it was an impressive feat to take the bell from the mans staff as he hit her with it. It would be nice to see her continue to be this inventive but sadly I believe this is a one time moment. She reverts to princess mode pretty soon afterwards.

With the bell out of commision the Sins cleaned house soon enough. Even when one of the villains pulled out his trump card, a spell to seal them away in the prison forever, it was unintentionally broken by the reunion of Meliodas and Ban. Not only did they destroy the spell but also bring down the entire prison with friendly arm wrestling. I am beginning to worry that these characters may be too strong. While I said before that to get around this one can put them in disadvantageous situations but when you disarm the situation it really just becomes a matter of when they win. It is hard to feel they are in true danger in a pure fist fight.

Ah yes and the doctor isn’t dead.To no ones surprise. This is one of the problems I have with shounen battle anime. They are all for having dire situations but there are not many who are willing to follow through with the consequences. I generally dislike fake deaths. I find them to be cheap emotional manipulation that only works once and loses all impact after the reveal. Even then if you can see it then it won’t even work once. This as well takes away the effect of a character genuinely dying as many would just be waiting for the reveal rather than get taken in the characters true final moments. It isn’t even properly explained here. He just go healed somehow and they brush it off pretty quickly. I admit there is something later on that could explain this but right now it’s just lazy way to prevent the daughter from having to deal with the loss of her father. The next episode looks to add a new sin to the head count so we can only see how this King plans to introduce himself.

Ah, the story progression that I was looking for. I finally find myself having a reason to get attached to Leone and Kaisar, because this episode devotes an entire episode to their rivalry and is just all around an improvement from last episode.

I’ve talked about how the slow pacing hurts this show, and this is one instance where taking a break from the monotony of side activities does a lot to build the story. In this episode, we follow Leone and Rita (possibly my favorite character so far) as they try to get Kaisar and Amira back, who were captured by demons in the last episode. The old rivalry between Leone and Kaisar finally come to a head, and it’s been delivered in such a satisfying manner here- the rising action was not contrived in any way and it was packed with a lot of tension. Regardless, there remains much to be worried about when talking about where this anime will end up-take Amira’s exponential “moe-ification” and the sluggish pacing, which appeared plenty of times in the last few episodes. Those will, without a doubt, stay relevant as the show moves forward.

In addition, Jeanne D’Arc and the Knights had at most 3 minutes of screen time ever since the series began, so I do think that it’s a mistake for Sato to put them on the sidelines for so long. Jeanne D’Arc is probably the only well-known historical figure in the anime, and she’s yet another character being cast off as a minor supporting character when she has so much potential.

Let me put up a disclaimer: When I first started to review this series, I didn’t foresee the obvious outcome that this show would end up so mediocre. I debated whether or not I should write reviews in groups of 2-3 episodes versus reviews that would drone on about the same issues every single episode, and I ultimately decided on the former. Parasyte is yet another anomaly- because while the pacing and story are solid as hell, various weaknesses in character development and a total failure to create an effective setting ultimately bring the show down.

First, I think we can all agree that Migi is by far the best character in this show. But besides him, who else do I genuinely care about? Shinichi’s “dehumanization” continues to occur far too rapidly for us to care about it very much, yet the writers seem to keep beating us over the head with evidence that he’s changing- when Mr. A is approaching Shinichi in episode four, Shinichi feels strong remorse about having to kill A, even though he ultimately kills him out of self-defense. So I was initially under the impression that Shinichi doesn’t want to kill any organism regardless of their threat level, because his actions had demonstrated that very same idea up to that point. However, when a pregnant Miss Ryoko is literally causing zero harm to anyone, all of a sudden, Shinichi wants to kill her- what a textbook definition of beating us over the head with character development.

This also directly correlates with the failure to create tension whenever Shinichi goes outdoors. With a premise as this reminiscent of vampires, there was so much potential here. Although this is obviously a minor issue in comparison to something like character development, creating an unnerving tension whenever Shinichi goes outside to interact with other humans would take the story this show seeks to tell and drastically further push the narrative. How awesome would it have been, had the writers shown Shinichi suspecting every person he saw in the city simply because one of them might be a parasyte? Because so far, the only things that remind us that there are other parasytes out there are the “boss fights” we get every episode.

Overall, although I’ve only listed the negative aspects of the show fron episodes 3-5, the parts this show does right remains the same as what I wrote for my episode 2 review. Regardless, the soundtrack is definitely now a problem- the big emotional reveal in the fifth episode was ruined for me because of the badly composed dubstep (a genre of music that I normally enjoy.) Ultimately, the positives and negatives of this show make this series a fairly average one so far.

Episodes 4 and 5 of Your Lie in April were crucial ones in terms of how the series would develop. Episode 4 was a very important episode in the series as we see Kousei reintroduce himself to the music world after his mother’s death left him unable to play the piano. How the writers would handle this situation was extremely important. I was personally worried that Kousei’s and Kaori’s performance would go too smoothly, almost belittling Kousei’s trauma. Instead, the writers took a more agreeable path than that in which encouraging signs for Kousei’s progress were mixed with frustration and familiar problems that showed that he is definitely not out of the woods yet.

After the performance, we’re left with Kaori’s sudden collapse. I was immediately worried that this was going to be an extremely cheap use of melodrama to inject some drama into the show that would ultimately be completely negligible to the series as a whole, but we learn in episode 5 that this has been a recurring issue for Kaori and will almost definitely be a very important part of Your Lie in April going forward. The rest of episode 5 showed a stronger focus on the relationships within the show with some monologues from Tsubaki and Kousei as they ponder their feelings. Episode 5 ends with Kaori pushing Kousei to enter a piano competition, which will be another important step in Kousei’s progress overcoming his trauma.

The good from these two episodes is that the pacing and production values have remained very strong. Good pacing is always nice since it feels rather rare in the medium, and especially rare in the drama/romance genres. The show also managed to beat out my worst expectations that I detailed a little bit in the above paragraphs, relating to how Kousei’s accompaniment of Kaori would go and Kaori’s collapse. As for the bad… I really wasn’t a fan of the writers hanging the botched performance over Kousei’s head. I can understand Kousei being hard on himself, even if he was pushed into the performance. I think it would be a natural reaction. I was less understanding of Kaori bringing it up at the end of episode 5. At the end of the day, I think it was merely to get him to do the piano competition, continuing to try to help him overcome his issues, but I’m still iffy on hanging that over his head to get him to do it. This is also a good time to mention the sappy lines I forgot to mention last time. They’re back in full force, particularly during the monologues. The biggest issue with these lines is that they really just suck me out of the show. Nobody talks like that.

Overall I’d say the quality has remained fairly consistent through these five episodes. Kousei’s upcoming piano competition should be the next major event and it’ll be interesting to see how the writers choose to move along the plot from where we are now. Also, of course, it’ll be interesting to see how Kaori’s health develops going forward.

Kaiser-Eoghan
With Vinland, I think it was that it switched magazines, started as a shounen.

Niel
HYPE! HYPE! VINLAND HYPE! I really hope it's a 2-cour where they end with the "End of Prologue".

Amagi
Wonder how Vinland will be. It's one of the very very very few long running series I still consider as good. Usually there is always a lot of stuff that annoys me once a series switches its tone or genre at some point.

Amagi
I also wish Wixoss would die and I really loved the first series, even both seasons. But the lastest one without Okada was atrocious.

Amagi
@Kaiser: that kind of distraction is just the internet's curse I know it as well. It kinda pisses me off because I was a pretty diligent worker once and created a lot of create new content even. Now I often get the urge to check the newest funny tweets/memes whatever.

Kaiser-Eoghan
I enjoy TONS of subtitled stuff, but I have to admit...sometimes to re-winding and pausing when the dialogue gets heavy or complex.

Kaiser-Eoghan
I know Aico has a shit dub but sometimes I find myself watching in English and feeling lazy because its easier to watch more now that way.

Kaiser-Eoghan
I used to be able to marathon stuff so easily but now I can't do the 12 episodes in one go thing like I used to.

Kaiser-Eoghan
Something goes off, even after 30 minutes to an hour "Shit....have to see if something update...like NOW....can't stop myself"

Kaiser-Eoghan
I'm not the kind of person who messes with their phone in a cinema, but at home somehow theres this moments where I just get this distracting urge to keep checking some site, E-mail, snacking, going to the bathroom too often or lie down, look at someones doujin/smut art or write something all when I'm supposed to be doing something else.

Kaiser-Eoghan
What I mean is, I'll be reading/watching something and its not boring at all, maybe even interesting, but I can't stop pausing sometimes for...reasons and it takes me longer to get through something because of this.

Kaiser-Eoghan
I know this is pretty much an effect of living in this generation but, for those of you who experience this, how do you guys deal with "distraction." Sometimes this annoys me....

Kaiser-Eoghan
@Amagi: I'm evasive of "non-old man pubs" at night , particularly late at night, I don't want to come across any "characters" I'd prefer not to encounter.

Amagi
Well it's the reason why I never drink alcohol at home. Even if I were depressed it wouldn't change my mood so it's pointless.

Amagi
I can reach a point where I feel like dreaming but none of my character traits change. Guess it always varies depending on the person. Same with my best friend, he's just get tired when drunk, but nothing else ever happens.

Amagi
@Kaiser: Same here. Often go to pubs with friends at night but not only do I not want to ever get my mind "altered" by alcohol, it doesn't even work it seems. Or maybe it's the will or that I am just not influenceable.

KTravlos
I have been drunk, I do not like it. I do like being tipsy, but hate drunk. I generally like beer because it does not muck me up as bad as harder drinks (ouzo, raki, and I absolutely despise tequila). The first time in my life I celebrated Valentine's Day was this year. Have to say that it was not too bad.

Kaiser-Eoghan
Baccardi and Vodka were the only forms of alcohol I felt didn't especially taste "off" to me.

Kaiser-Eoghan
I also dislike Valentines day for the schmaltz, insincerity, fakeness around it and the idea there has to be "a day" for it and the captilization, commercialization of emotions.

Kaiser-Eoghan
In all my thirty one years I have never been drunk and never intend to, I dislike the idea of surrendering my mind to alcohol and feeling "altered". If anything you would be safer doing marijuana.

Kaiser-Eoghan
Its really just a day off or an excuse for 13 year olds to get drunk.

Kaiser-Eoghan
He was Welsh aswell and there weren't exactly that much snakes in Ireland to begin with.

Kaiser-Eoghan
@Mario: Its technically St Patricks day now yes. Not that I personally care for it, I got going to the parade out of my system over a decade ago, never liked the oirishness and cliches/commercialisim around it, in the end it just makes it impossible to get around the city, plus the weather is so poor its pointless going out anyway.

SuperMario
I saw some Irish flags around my area. Is it St Patrick day today?

Kaiser-Eoghan
I did listen to some of aico's dub, I don't think any of these people are experienced or professional voice actors.

Kaiser-Eoghan
Anon: B the beginning was too much of an awkward genre mix. I was content to just ignore aico because I'm not a fan of Bones as a studio but you're the second person to say it reminds them of some old ova.

Kaiser-Eoghan
@Anon: I enjoyed the combination of old and new with devilman, it even being able to eclipse the ovas, aswell as the experimental visual style and transgression, and as you said, the surprising emotional involvement.

Anonymous1889060
So i finish, B the Beginning, Aico, Devilman( What a feel's ride). and I must say that they're far from perfect, but they remaind me of 90, early 2000 anime, that i loved so much and that is a big plus. Today's anime doesnt feel quite the same in my opinion, what are your thoughts.. Now im getting excited to watch SWORD GAI!.

Kaiser-Eoghan
While obvious an anime series, After the rain often feels like a live action film.

Kaiser-Eoghan
@Mario: Actually that does remind me, I never saw Pola X by Carax.

Kaiser-Eoghan
Miike is extremely hit or miss, but I loved how Audition minipulated the viewer with its slower first half before really taking off, most of Ichi the killer is just a perversely funny black comedy to me.

Kaiser-Eoghan
Chang-dong-Lee is refreshingly less melodramatic then other Korean directors.

Kaiser-Eoghan
Benh Zeitlin is one I'm not familiar with, but it turns out he did beasts of southern wild and I enjoy magical realism.

Kaiser-Eoghan
@Mario: I wasn't aware Carax was still alive, some sgements of holy motors work, others don't , lovers on the bridge was a more accessible film I recall.

SuperMario
@Fluca: okay. Kinda fixed it. I don't think we have a spoiler code so I just changed your spoiler into white color

Kaiser-Eoghan
Every time I here the title Aico, it makes me think its some kind of eco/environmental thing, which I know it isn't.

Kaiser-Eoghan
The fate/extra Alice character (I looked her up) looks like she belongs in rozen maiden.

Kaiser-Eoghan
The modern Japanese directors can be prolific Miike and Sono pump out more than one film a year.

Kaiser-Eoghan
And it shows, that Our little sister adaptation, that live action adaptations CAN sometimes work.

Kaiser-Eoghan
Quick fact, that action crime josei anime, Bananna fish, coming out in April is based on a manga by the writer of Our little sister's manga.

Kaiser-Eoghan
@Mario: The interest being, how he would handle something so removed from his usual style.

Kaiser-Eoghan
@Mario: Actually re-checking, its next week, The third murder , which seems very different, a courtroom drama with some philosophy in it.

SuperMario
I really enjoy Our Little Sister, but I think mainly because the film is entirely within my comfort zone (Slice of life manga material, about the life of these girls)

SuperMario
@Kaiser: Which one will you see? He now directs one movie per year so it's hard to keep track some times. I really like his style and I reckon people who like slice-of-life will enjoy his movies

Kaiser-Eoghan
@Mario: Hirokazu Koreeda has a new film out, seeing it on Friday, I've only seen Our little sister by him.

Kaiser-Eoghan
@Anon: I essentially deleted the rest of the episodes off my computer after struggling through the first, like most, maybe moreso I got very turned off by the genre mixing. Thats not to say that I'm against genre mixes though, but they have to be weird, I mean really weird.

Amagi
I am not a fan of breather episodes, something most modern anime are pretty keen to insert. I hate breaking of climaxes in order to show three SoL-, fanservice- or formularic monster of the week episodes before the main plot progresses further. When I want SoL I go watch a full fleshed SoL. Aico is pretty straight forward and kinda easy to watch in one go in that regard. Nothing really new though.

Amagi
Just finished Aico. Had a few downsides like most series but I enjoyed it. Felt like a classic scifi anime you'd see in the 90s.

AidanAK47
@Anon, I watched it. Though it was mixed but a decent enough watch. It really felt like two shows hastily combined into one. Been thinking of writing a review for it and Aico once I finish Aico.

Kaiser-Eoghan
Nice animation showcase aswell though I don't know how long this will really stay i my memory, though it was nice.

Kaiser-Eoghan
Although it relies on being fairly convenient, linear and simplistic, that Mary witch flower anime movie is at its strongest when visually drawing the viewer into its world and wherever it shows spectacle. I'd say its adequately charming. Fair enough.

KTravlos
Hakata sounds like Gangasta. A series I enjoyed, despite its massive flaws

KTravlos
thanks guys. I will probably give it a try. I am also watching the Castlevania anime finally. Not really worth it for me. Also I watched the first episode of Garo Vanishing Line. I can a say it was fun.

Anonymous1881860
@Anon1880687 - I watched a couple of episodes. Feels like a foreign series. Since it doesn't feel like an anime made in Japan. I did like the group of revengers seem to have more personality than the main leads which insinuate chemistry but doesn't go deep into it. I don't remember if they explain why one of the leads chooses to dress like a girl. Though at least they give him/her a male voice.

SuperMario
@KTravlos: me. Not impressed. First few eps were alright with a set of bold characters, but later the lot just goes around in circle for these characters acting cool and cool rules the day. I dropped it after episode 6

Amagi
@Vonter: It gets more serious later although I agree it's better starting this without any knowledge about the series, like I did. I just loved the tragicomical jokes and the obsessive nostalgia Bojack suffered from and neither needed nor expected any drama but it was pretty good when it happened nonetheless.

AidanAK47
@Anon, Not really. They just wanted to find some justification for the trashy aspects for a show they liked rather than accept it.And while I understand how obnoxious it can be, there are times when people complain about a show doesn't explain itself and then get pissed off when you try to give an explanation.

Kaiser-Eoghan
@Vonter: From what I hear, while it does have comedy, by the second season not only does it improve, but its more of a drama.

Vonter
I've been watching Bojack Horseman. It's good, yet watching certain clips before the actual series made me expect a darker show. I know it's a cartoon, but some jokes reduced the impact of certain events. Though I suppose it's meant to be uplifting and not just mean spirited. It gave me some Nier and Aku no Hana vibes.

KTravlos
We watched the first three episodes of B the Beginning. I must say I enjoyed it. We will see how the rest goes.

Kaiser-Eoghan
For example, doing a rant of a film will only communicate to your intellectual friends and people already in the know, the working class guy you want to inform with your societal/political/religious ideas , was probably watching a western back in the 60s/70s, just incorporate the themes into that while not sacrificing the films appeal

Kaiser-Eoghan
With regards to pretension, I think that comes into play when you have a director trying to communicate ideas but ends up becoming ridiculously, overly polemical, its better to communicate thought provoking ideas through something straight, while also remaining some distance.

Amagi
I think it often happens when authors create things on the fly, at least with manga. You can see terrible forms of comedy/SoL -> drama/scifi switches among webcomics, which are usually done by "amateurs", some of them being pretty young. It's always good when a series hints or blatantly shows what it is during its first episodes/chapters. Not talking about mysteries but genres.

Kaiser-Eoghan
Usually for dramatic comedy to work I feel it needs to let the viewer know early on that the story will feature both....the sudden drama thing generally is a result where a funny film needs an ending and a story needs to be fabricated hastily.

Amagi
Melodrama is like genre mixes. If it does work it can be something special, but it's really hard to write and most directors just lack the talent to do so. It's like a comedy that turns serious at some point. It CAN work, but there aren't many cases where that happens. Usually they're just alienating their comedy fans and the drama fans weren't there to begin with.

Kaiser-Eoghan
If the mekodramatics can properly cast a spell on a viewer, I am open to it if the writers strong enough but in general, when I'm watching something, the best stories are the ones where the atmosphere is so assure I forget I'm watching fiction.

Amagi
I know they just want to make their audience feel good but I think it's a terrible moral or idea. Especially since most people know at least one person they loved that died from such illnesses. No matter what they did or tried to do to overcome it.

Amagi
Yeah exactly. Honestly most cancer movies are terrible I think. I also hate these series in which the main character, I don't know, wins a match for his cancer-ridden love and then s/he recovers.

Amagi
@Kaiser: Not using music can be a great method to illustrate serious moments I think.

Kaiser-Eoghan
I've spoken to my father about this, who recovered from cancer years ago, those kind of phrases irritate him, hr said "Yeah....you don't battle, fight cancer, you fucking suffer through it, then if your lucky you get through it"

Amagi
I mean, again, I loved Madoka but I see how this method they used is kinda cheap. It's still better than many other series of that type. I am aready looking forward to see how terrible Magical Girl Site is, the trailer looks like a psycho face trash fest.

Kaiser-Eoghan
The really annoying thing is when some of these docs and dramas use phrases like "her battle, her FIGHT, her BRAVE fight against cancer.

Amagi
I enjoyed Madoka but I know what you mean. I think I will never rewatch Madoka but I love to see certain Tutu- and Sailor Moon scenes from time to time. I think Madoka is kinda similar to netflix shows or code geass in that regard. It always ends with some evil cliffhanger to hype you up for the next episode and it throws in one shocking revelation after another for the same reason.

Kaiser-Eoghan
@Amagi: On the music thing, some documentaries do this. What I loved about Shoah and night and fog is that the directors showed the landscapes/buildings where it happened and never used music.

Amagi
I mean I know how bad ww2 and other things were. I really don't need rain, sad music and lots of actor tears to realize that. It reminds me of the laughing tracks sitcoms have that tell you when you have to laugh. And newer movies have exaggerated effects as well, not a fan of that. I rather see well thought-out content than a bomb-show. Not to mention that I hate sensory overload.

Kaiser-Eoghan
Its also kind of why I can NEVER look at hentai of something I enjoyed when I was young.

Kaiser-Eoghan
I grew up with Cardcaptor Sakura and Sailormoon and looking into lighthearted mahou shoujo , I don't mind nanoha and tutu, but there was always the feeling madoka was corrupting something.

Kaiser-Eoghan
On dark moe, I've stopped with lol edgy when criticizing Madoka, I realize that its the equivalent to Batman porn to me, the idea of that level of a slant on a genre I went for when I was a kid.

Amagi
I agree. I was interested in Schindler's List when I was ~12 or so because it was something new for me. Nowadays I realize it's not really my thing, there are many western war shows that come of as too "pathetic" to me, they feel too much like, well, Hollywood blockbusters (which is what they actually are) than a serious commetary on war or so.

Kaiser-Eoghan
@Amagi: Thats the trouble I have with Hollywood , a film about Autism like Rain man or a mental illness movie like I am Sam, these American movies never seem real and the depictions feel so hammy and inaccurate.

Kaiser-Eoghan
On the dark moe trope, rather than throwing out words on it, its the tonal inconsistency that gets to me.

Amagi
Yeah the opposite is bad as well. A show can have good intentions, even lots of good ideas but still have a bad execution.

Kaiser-Eoghan
Schindler's list is a great example of this, personally I think popcorn drama/oscar baiting the holocaust is somewhat distasteful and the film comes off as comparitively ingenuinely when I've seen a couple of eastern war films by people who actually lived during the war.

Amagi
And "egdy" is very much about the tone a series has and not so much the actual content. Therefore it has to be explained as well, a dark series, even one with lots of blood, isn't necessarily edgy, it depends on the stance the autor has, whom we're supposed to root for and why, how characters and scenes are depicted and the overall tone, moral and so on.

Kaiser-Eoghan
On another note, to go back to "critic proof", this is a terrible practice because it allows people to take an easy topic for a story and it become forbidden to give a bad review.

Amagi
Yeah, "badly written" for example doesn't mean anything unless you're gonna illustrate how it is badly written by showing and analyzing examples from the show and explain why the writing for these scenes is weak

Kaiser-Eoghan
Thats why I like here, people actually talk about a show in some detail, even the reviewers.

Kaiser-Eoghan
An non-backed up opinion when I'm looking for a show to follow doesn't tell me anything, how am I meant to know to watch something based on a single word or sentence?

Kaiser-Eoghan
I suppose its less of a case of buzzwords and more how people don't explain anything . The reason I say I have to do a 300 word review or long opinion on something is because I feel buzzwords and one word/one sentence opinions are un-helpful.

Kaiser-Eoghan
@Amagi: And I think thats certainly an issue, the lines being bkurred between shitposting/trolling and genuine critique .

Amagi
I mean there are a lot of badly written shows out there or shows that are too tryhard, but people often use these phrases as buzzwords for everything and don't state reasons for using these terms for a specific show. I see tons of "egdy" posts as soon as a series is a bit darker than the usual harem and it's hard to distinguish these pieces from actual shitposts or trolls.

Amagi
It sounds better to say that I don't like something because it's too egdy, too stupid and pure pandering (when it's about moe) or "badly written" than saying that I can't relate to certain settings, characters and so one or that I've seen a certain idea too often.

Amagi
@Kaiser: I think many people just don't want to admit that disliking a series is usually a subjective thing. They rather want to credit their own intelligence for not liking it.

Star Crossed Anime Blog

Featured Posts

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Today on Darling in the Franxx, death flags averted. I admit that throughout this episode I fully prepared myself to see Goro die. The signs were everywhere with him confirming to Hiro that he was in love with Ichigo, the mission leaving him stranded with a trolosuar, the hair clip as well as the base […]

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These past few episodes I have been rather critical of Mahoutsukai, and rightfully so I would say. The new characters are lackluster, the plot/stories dull. A 7/10 series at best. It is with this mindset, this frame of reference, that I can see “As you sow, so shall you reap” is the best episode of […]

If I haven’t known beforehand that Violet Evergarden has 14 episodes, I would easily assume that this is the conclusion of Violet Evergarden. And in some ways, there is a strong sense of closure in this latest episode. This last two episodes have their full attention to the core development of Violet, that includes an […]

We take a side road from our main romance between Tachibana and Kondou in this last two episodes, instead focus on each own friendship, short story Rashomon and pimple. Not that I consider Ameagari anything less than stellar, the show moves with confident pace with so much lovely subtle details. After the unforgettable event where […]

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Wooper: Mary and the Witch’s Flower is the first feature film from Studio Ponoc, which spun off from Studio Ghibli in early 2015. Given Ghibli’s towering reputation, the bar was high for this inaugural flick, which recently made its way to U.S. theaters, giving Lenlo and I a chance to see it on the big […]

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I was quite excited for Apocrypha and in the so called year of Fate adaptations, it looked to be the crown jewel. Sadly, partly due to lacking adaption and the source lacking in areas, this anime turned out to be not quite the jewel I thought it would be. It’s hard to call this a […]

One of the surprises of the year was to see the return of Kino’s Journey, a very well regarded and more unique anime among those deemed classic. Many, myself included, were very much looking forward to the return of Kino and her talking Motorrad. Though due to some factors this series doesn’t quite live up […]

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